by Nissa Hanna
I’ve finally been making forays into daily-discount territory, where my interest in saving money is being met with the discovery of hard-to-pass-up deals. Businesses’ brilliance lies in making me feel like I got a good deal on something I didn’t even know I wanted the day before — but it’s a balancing act between excitement and excess.
Apparently Facebook couldn’t resist these types of offers either; it’s planning to test run a Grouponesque discount service as an expansion of its Deals program (FastCompany.com, 14 March 2011). Just when you think there’s a price-busting site for every shopper niche, more third-party services and brands morph the model to create their own Groupon groupies. Sales from daily-deal sites could reach $1.2 billion this year, up from $870 million in 2010, and might top $6 billion annually by 2015, according to a forecast by BIA/Kelsey (PromoMagazine.com, 17 March 2011).
As daily and group discounts continue to take shape, there’s a lot for shoppers to be excited about, and even more for brands and retailers to be inspired by and learn from. With more consumers inviting these offers into their inboxes and onto their Facebook pages, it’s increasingly important for the services to get their targeting right. Consumers need to find engagement, thrill, fun, savings and value at the emerging intersection of money mindfulness and discount discovery — and not come away feeling dirty.
